Vince
Yates heard a soft footstep and he braced himself. He’d known this was coming
from the minute he pulled those filthy Raiders off that kid.

The kid
had been greeted just like every newcomer to Andersonville, with violence.
Vince knew better, but he couldn’t let that kid get beaten by a fellow Yankee.

One of
those thieves had picked himself up and backed away from Vince’s fury with a
parting threat. “A man who don’t mind his own business, don’t survive.”

“Lots of
ways to die in this pit,” Vince had told the low down coyote. “Might as well
die with some honor instead of live with a yellow streak down my back—like
you.” Vince knew he signed his own death warrant but he couldn’t leave the kid
to his fate.

There’d
been three Raiders and, with the kid's help, two against three, they drove them
off. But those Raiders had friends, dozens, maybe hundreds.

They
were coming back in a pack like wolves.

Vince
was weak already. Starved down to skin and bones after six months in here.

The
footsteps came closer. Vince prayed the most heartfelt prayer of his life, and
it wasn’t for help. He figured none was coming. And the prayer wasn’t to win
this fight. With the exception of a few Bible stories—David and some stones—Samson
and the jawbone of an ass—most of the time, when one man stood alone, that man
lost.

Nope, he
just prayed that he’d meet his Savior. He wasn't even all that sorry to go. It
was time to be getting out of this place and that was about the only doorway
Vince could see. He put all his hope in the next life.

This one was over.

“Yates?”
A Texas twang, laced with gravel. Vince knew that voice. The Kid.

Not a
lot of Texans penned up in here. Texans fought for the Rebs.

“I’m
here.” Speaking barely above a whisper, Vince stepped out of the shadows.

“I don’t
reckon I’ll let you protect me and not return the favor. You can use someone at
your back tonight.” A kid at least five years younger than Vince. He’d done
well against those three men but he was losing when Vince stepped in.

“I
stepped into your trouble, and I was a fool to do it. Be smarter than me, Kid.
Get out of here.”

A dry
laugh with no humor in it answered. “Won’t be the first time someone accused me
of being a fool. I’ll buy in.” The boy was close enough in the starless night
that Vince finally saw the black shape of him.

“Texas went with the
Confederacy, Kid. Didn’t anyone tell you which side to fight on?”

Luke shrugged, barely visible in
the dark. “My best friend as a kid was a Negro and he and his family were fine
folks who lived free. I can’t see fighting for the side that’d make 'em
slaves.”

Vince needed to get this
youngster out of here. Two against two dozen lost the fight. "They're just
looking for me, Kid. This isn't your fight, you already took your
beating."

They'd stolen all the kid had before Vince got
there so chances were they'd leave him alone. No sense the kid getting hurt
again.

“I seen you fight, Yates.
They’ll have to send a passel of Raiders to beat the two of us.” Stone stood
with a kind of alert tension that made Vince think of a gunslinger. The kid,
even if he was young, was a man when it came to facing trouble.

“Make it
three.” Another voice sounded from Vince’s right.

“Who’s
there?” Vince wheeled to face the newcomer. He saw shaggy hair so dirty Vince
was just guessing when he decided the man was blond. This man as a complete
stranger.

The
prison wall was nineteen feet away on Vince’s left. Right behind him was a
small white fence they called the Dead Line.

That
space between the Dead Line and the outer fence was No Man’s Land. The
Confederate Guards on the prison walls had instructions to shoot anyone who
stepped in that space and they seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in doing it.
Just as the camp commander, Wirz, took an evil pleasure in ordering it done.

Wirtz
was the man in charge of hell—to Vince’s mind that made Wirz the devil himself.
But maybe this was just purgatory because Vince hoped and prayed he’d get out
of here someday and everyone knew that hell had no end.

Except
Vince figured he was going to die tonight, so he needed his soul to be right
with the Lord and these men were giving him no time to pray, well, he had to
hope he was already in good order with the Lord, but still, he'd like one last
moment to set things right.

“I saw
it, too.” The shaggy man seemed to vibrate with energy, and Vince thought the
stranger might go to pacing if he had room. “I did some checking around, Yates.
Twenty varmints are gathering right now to come at you. I’ll stand with you.”

“Three
against twenty.” Vince grunted. “Get out of here both of you.”

“You
sound like a man not afraid to die.” A fourth voice sounded and Vince knew this
one. He was a red-headed man who’d formed a church of sorts in the belly of
hell.

Jonas
Cahill.

“I’m not
afraid." Vince wanted them all gone. "In fact, after six
months in this prison, it’s sounding like a good idea.”

“You’re
not going to die tonight.” A fifth voice. Deep and strong. Another stranger.
When this man stepped close enough to see, Vince had his first real surge of
hope. Big John they called him. Another Texan. Six foot six and two hundred and
fifty pounds of solid muscle. Big John hadn’t been in here long, and he wasn’t
so hungry he’d lost every extra pound and most of his strength. Vince had seen
the Raiders slink back when Big John had come in. Not even in a group had they
attacked him.

“Five
against twenty," Big John said with a deep laugh. No he hadn't been in
long. He still knew how to laugh. "They don’t stand a chance. Not when I’m
one of the five.”

Vince
laughed in response to Big John’s boast, and the sound of it was so unusual
coming from him he almost didn’t recognize what it was.

“We form
a half-circle with our backs to the fence.” The Kid trying to take charge.
Vince wanted to give the orders but his throat tightened. Like he might cry. A
horrifying thought.

“Everybody
facing out,” the shaggy blond said, another one who thought he oughta give
orders. “Name’s Dare Riker. Those traitors took the little I had when I came in
here and beat me so bad I was more asleep than awake for two days. Jonas here
was kneeling beside me praying when I came around. I’d like a chance to make
them pay, but a man alone has no way to do that. I’d be mighty pleased to team
up with you.”

“I didn’t help so you could see
who you could hurt, Dare.” But for all his kindness, Vince had seen toughness
in the parson. And a willingness to face evil with force as well as prayers. Jonas
had the voice of a powerful, serene angel.

Vince had done some Bible
reading in his day. Angels weren’t to be tangled with if it could be avoided
and Jonas was such a man. Jonas turned his back to the Dead Line, facing out,
watching for trouble with this fists clenched.

There were a lot of bands of men
in here who backed each other in trouble. It looked like Vince had one of his
own.

“John Conroy.” The big man turned and stuck
out a fist half the size of Vince’s head.

Vince shook and the strength of
John’s grip put heart into Vince.

“I was a lawman in Texas, and I
headed north to fight same as the kid here.”

“Luke Stone, and I ain’t no kid
so stop callin' me that.”

“Once we get the south calmed
down and the Union preserved,” Big John ignored the boy and went on talking. “I’m
going back to Texas where I reckon I’ll be thought a traitor by most everyone.
I don’t see myself ever living a quiet life, so I might as well get started
facing trouble right now. It'll get me ready to go home and face more trouble
in Texas when the time comes.”

The circle of men shook hands
all around until another footstep broke off the introductions. This time it
wasn’t friendly.

Gina, I have no plans to do that, but I will build a file probably in a separate page on my blog and add the chapters together so in the end the whole novella should be available with one click.You think I should somehow print this up? I thought about publishing it on Amazon and giving it away free there but they don't let you do that, that I can see. So, for now, it's just here.

Yayyyyyyyy! I've been looking forward to this. I'm gonna do a copy/paste thing for these if you aren't putting something together Mary. Send me some ref pix and I'd be happy to make a book cover. Post the prequel on smashwords for free and I think eventually Amazon will match the price.This is gonna be awesome!

Thanks for this, Mary. I loved it. I'm looking forward to the rest of this story and also Stuck Together.Please let us know on Facebook when there is another chapter ready. I won't remember the schedule otherwise!

Mary, THANK YOU for deciding to share this with us! I have hoped and hoped you would. The events that happened here helped shape the men I have liked so much in the series. This is gonna be a good story!